Tree species range limits match former Ice Sheet Margin

You're most welcome, Andrew. Indeed, after a time, one can just about "read" the soil of any given area by the vegetation it supports. Wisconsin may be an extreme case-glaciers really mixed things up here-but the basic relationship holds everywhere one cares to look. When I bought land for my "tree farm", I wanted to be in what I dub "the cedar belt", that part of my state where, either because of underlying dolomite, or because of some unknown glaciation factor, northern white cedar does well and is especially vigorous and healthy. It is thought that where limestone (dolomite) is not present at or near the surface, than in order for these relatively high-pH soils to form, material from a lime-rich area would have had to have been dragged back or forth into the area. Such must be the case where we are-the cedar grows exactly like it does across the bay in Door County, and that entire county is but one segment of the Niagara Escarpment. But where we are, sandstone is the underlying rock formation. And we have springs that feature mineral-rich waters. This is where "cedar" really grows. There are many places where it is present. But only in those lime-rich regions of the NE US and SE Canada that this species really kicks into high gear. Thus it is that a plant community that iIve seen all my life and take for granted is actually one which very few people, even those who fancy trees and forest, have ever seen.